Tie Xin, Tie Long, Tie Hu!

"A soul restriction... Isn't that far too risky?" Amid the crowd, a blacksmith's face went pale, and even his voice trembled slightly.

"Risky? Being stuck at level 29 for your entire life, getting trampled on and looked down upon wherever you go—that's real despair! I choose the first option!" Someone immediately retorted sharply, his tone filled with the resolve of someone burning his bridges.

"I don't dare gamble with my soul. I'll choose the second option. I'll stay and watch for now, and there's double pay too. It's safer overall."

"I... I want to leave. I still want to go back to the Blacksmith Association and live a peaceful life."

"Are you an idiot? You're actually going to throw away an opportunity that comes once in a thousand years?"

Noisy discussions rose and fell across the square, yet no one dared take the first step.

Everyone watched one another, their eyes filled with hesitation, greed, fear, and probing. They all waited desperately for the first person to step forward.

Second by second, time slipped quietly away, and the tension in the air nearly solidified into something tangible.

At last, beneath everyone's gazes, a callused, trembling hand slowly rose.

It belonged to a young blacksmith in his thirties. He wore coarse linen clothes that had been washed pale, their edges frayed with wear. His palms and knuckles were covered in thick calluses left by years of forging, as rough as old tree bark.

There was unease in his eyes, but deep within burned a nearly obsessive flame of determination.

He drew a deep breath, faced the hundreds of gazes upon him, straightened the back that life had long bent, and bowed deeply toward Lin Ya on the platform. Then, word by word, he declared in a voice that rang like metal striking stone:

"I... I choose the first option!"

His voice was not especially loud, yet it was like a thunderclap exploding across the silent square, echoing again and again until everyone's ears buzzed.

"I want to become stronger. I want to forge soul tools like yours with my own hands. Even if I have to pay with my soul, I'm willing!"

"Very good. State your name." Lin Ya's gaze fell upon the blacksmith, his tone calm but carrying unquestionable authority.

"My name is Tie Xin. These two behind me are my sons, Tie Long and Tie Hu."

Only then did Lin Ya notice the pair of young brothers standing behind him, their features nearly identical, both sturdy and spirited-looking.

Tie Xin, Tie Long, Tie Hu...

Upon hearing those three names, Lin Ya silently searched his memories. After a long while, he finally recalled who they were.

At Soto Soul Arena, the Three-Five Combination had once encountered a pair of twin Soul Masters wielding forging hammers, and they had been quite formidable;

Later, the owner of the blacksmith shop Tang San found while seeking materials to forge the Zhuge Divine Crossbow had been Tie Xin. Those twins were his sons.

"Very good. Rest assured, you will never regret today's decision." Lin Ya nodded slightly and gestured for Tie Xin to follow him into the hall behind him.

Tie Xin's talent was abysmal, and his martial soul had an innate flaw. He was the sort of low-level Soul Master destined to remain trapped at level 29 for life, with no possibility of ever breaking through.

However, his two sons were exceptionally gifted. Their martial souls had undergone innate mutations, and at merely eighteen, they had already cultivated to the realm of level 29 Great Soul Masters.

With a little nurturing, breaking through to level 40 Soul Elder before the age of twenty-five would be no difficult task. In the future, they might even qualify to represent the academy in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament. They could be considered rare little geniuses.

As Tie Xin disappeared through the doors of the hall, the blacksmiths in the square erupted into discussion once more, their murmurs even louder than before.

"No way, Tie Xin really went in? Isn't he afraid his soul will be scattered?"

"I think this lord carries himself with extraordinary bearing. He doesn't seem like someone who kills innocents indiscriminately. As long as we pledge loyalty obediently, there shouldn't be any problem..."

"I'll never agree to it! Money may be valuable, and soul power may be worth even more, but for freedom's sake, both can be cast aside!"

"Let's wait and see. He said he could help a level 29 Soul Master break through to level 30. Isn't that just wishful thinking?"

"He's just bragging. He looks like nothing more than a half-grown child. Are you really taking a child's nonsense seriously?"

The crowd continued to debate, voices of doubt, hesitation, and mockery interweaving. Only the brothers Tie Long and Tie Hu remained silent, staring fixedly at the hall entrance with their fists clenched tight.

They knew better than anyone that breaking through level 30 was their father's lifelong wish, one he had never managed to fulfill; and learning the forging methods for top-tier soul tools was a pursuit their father would trade his life for.

To hear the truth in the morning and die that evening would be enough.

No one knew how much time passed before the doors of the hall opened once more, and Lin Ya and Tie Xin reappeared before everyone.

Tie Xin turned to Lin Ya. After receiving silent permission, he abruptly circulated his soul power and summoned his martial soul.

Boom—

A plain black forging hammer appeared in his hand out of thin air. At the same time, an aura far denser and more powerful than before erupted from his body. The unmistakable fluctuations of his Soul Master rank were clearly—level 30 Soul Elder!

"It really worked! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"My lord! I'm willing to pledge loyalty to you as well! For all eternity, I will never harbor a second thought!"

"I can too! As long as I can break through level 30, I'll do anything! A soul restriction is no problem!"

"Hey, weren't you just shouting that, for freedom's sake, both money and soul power could be cast aside?"

"Ah, I was just saying it casually. You actually believed me?"

In an instant, nearly a third of the blacksmiths surged forward, scrambling to submit to Lin Ya.

The temptation was simply too great! The crafting methods for top-tier soul tools, along with the heaven-defying opportunity to shatter their shackles and break through level 30, were enough to drive any low-level Soul Master stuck at a bottleneck mad.

Nothing else even needed to be mentioned. Just in terms of Soul Master stipends, a level 29 Great Soul Master could receive only ten gold soul coins per month, while a level 30 Soul Elder received a full hundred!

The difference was as vast as heaven and earth.

Speaking of collecting gold soul coins, Lin Ya couldn't understand it. Why did the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire let Spirit Hall distribute gold soul coins for them? Wasn't that just helping Spirit Hall win people's hearts? Couldn't they distribute them themselves?

Still, as he watched the blacksmiths eagerly stepping forward one after another, Lin Ya revealed a satisfied smile.

Not only the blacksmiths, even Tie Xin, who had just broken through to rank 30, grabbed Tie Long with one hand and Tie Hu with the other, pulling them toward Lin Ya.

Good lord, they were planning to bring the whole family over and pledge themselves to Lin Ya.

That made sense. No one understood Lin Ya's terror better than Tie Xin!

The artifacts he forged were not limited to the strongest Soul Grandmaster-level soul tools from before. As long as one's strength was sufficient, it was not impossible to create soul tools capable of killing a Titled Douluo.

Unfortunately, Tie Xin knew that although he had successfully broken through rank 30 with Lin Ya's help, his talent was limited. He would probably only reach rank 40 in this lifetime.

But his two sons were highly talented!

They had already reached rank 12 at the age of ten! Once the young master nurtured them further, they might have a chance of becoming Soul Emperors in the future!

Meanwhile, Prince Xue Xing stared blankly at the scene before him. At last, he understood why Lin Ya wanted so many rank 29 expendable soldiers.

Forget those blacksmiths—how many of the expendable soldiers around him did not long to break through and become Soul Elders?

Wait?

Didn't that mean...

Prince Xue Xing suddenly looked toward the eight hundred Great Soul Masters. Before long, would they become eight hundred Soul Elders?

There were still more than three thousand Great Soul Masters in the Heaven Dou Empire's army. Didn't that mean...

The more Xue Xing thought about it, the more excited he became. In just a few years, Spirit Hall's lower-tier forces would likely be completely crushed by the Heaven Dou Empire!

After all, as long as word got out that the Heaven Dou Empire could help rank 29 Great Soul Masters break through to rank 30, even more Great Soul Masters would certainly come to join them.

"Lin Ya has truly given us a tremendous gift! No, I need to return to Heaven Dou at once and tell my imperial brother this good news!"

Xue Xing was incomparably excited. He suddenly felt that the eighty-thousand-year soul bone he had given Lin Ya earlier had been far too stingy.

He took out the precious-materials list Lin Ya had just given him from his robes once more. At the very top of the list were four striking words!

Gold of Living Beings!!!